Knowledge, and its centrality in contemporary economic activities, has been the
pivotal focus in academic literature in recent decades. It has been claimed that the
contemporary stage of capitalism is one of a knowledge economy characterised by
intensive globalisation processes and new communication technologies producing
new international markets and enhanced competition among economic actors. In this
context, it has been argued that the ability continuously to create, aggregate, use and
re-use knowledge has become a matter of vital importance for economic development
in firms, cities and regions.
Consequently, debates about the knowledge economy have raised questions about
how geography affects processes and practices of knowledge creation. Two main
approaches have been particularly influential in economic geography: the first stresses
geographical proximity between economic actors as vital for knowledge creation,
whereas the second stresses social and relational proximity between actors as critical
for knowledge creation. However, most of these studies lack detailed empirical
evidence of the processes on knowledge creation and their social and spatial
implications. The aim of this thesis is therefore to unpack the socio-spatial relations
that facilitate regional knowledge creation in the knowledge economy. By adding
empirical flesh to the bones of the often abstract theories of knowledge creation, this
thesis explores the specifics of how localities facilitate the creation of important social
relations among actors that are vital for knowledge creation in the knowledge
economy, and how this may vary between different types of region and of industry.